Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

I think I'm turning into a little bit of a baking goddess...

Recipe

+ 175g brown muscovado sugar

+ 100g wholemeal self-raising flour

+ 100g self-raising flour

+ 1tsp bicarbonate of soda

+ 2 tsp mixed spice

+ zest 1 orange

+ 2 eggs

+ 150ml sunflower oil

+ 200g carrots, grated

FOR THE ICING

+ 100g butter, softened

+ 300g soft cheese

+ 100g icing sugar

+ 1 tsp vanilla extract

The recipe was on the BBC Good Food website and can be found here!

When I started adding the beat-up liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, the whole thing seemed a disaster. The mixture was far too dough-like and not enough like a cake-mixture... But it worked! Yay!

When they were out of the oven (which took slightly longer than expected, had to leave them in for oven for 27 minutes), I left them out on a cooling rack and made my very first cream cheese frosting... Another success. 

The only thing that wasn't a success was the piping. I've never really piped cupcakes before, and it turned into a little bit of a disaster. After watching several 'How to' videos on YouTube, I attempted it myself. Fail. My hands were shaking and I didn't really know what I was doing.

But practice makes perfect. All will be better next time...

I really liked this recipe, the cupcakes were really moist, which was surprising considering my worries about the lack of liquid in the beginning. I'm definitely baking these again!

Of course, when taking photos, I had to choose the best iced cake. Duh.

Even my parents liked it, which is saying a lot for them. They hate cakes, and can't stand the fact that I'm so obsessed with making them. Sorry mum.

MY FIRST EVER ROAST DINNER!!

I'm serious. I'm going to be 15 years old next month and I've never made a roast dinner, only enjoyed them. But all that changed on Sunday night mwahahaha.

I made Roast Pork Belly, which sounds really odd, but it tastes amazing! To prepare the pork, I left it out overnight to dry out and then I scored it in an attempt to make crackling. Then, I rubbed 10g sea salt and 15g fennel seeds to give it some flavour.

It goes in the oven for around around 1 3/4 hours (10-15 minutes at 220 degrees, then 1 1/2 hours at 170).

While the meat was cooking, I got everything else ready. I made roast potatoes, roast parsnips (nom), carrots and cauliflower cheese. 

I'm guilty, I didn't make the cauliflower cheese myself. I bought it from Marks & Spencers. My mum has tried making home-made before, but nothing tastes as good as M&S!!

Everything went to plan! Nothing burnt and nothing was undercooked, I was really happy with my attempt! Maybe next time I'll do something slightly more 'normal'. I'm thinking Roast Beef, I always need an excuse to eat yorkshire puddings (once again from M&S, nothing beats it)

(the picture got taken without the gravy. Every roast dinner needs lots of gravy...)

Orange and Rosemary Drizzle Cake!

Finally! My first Food Technology project has been completed! Our design brief was a traditional style cake with an original twist that could be sold among a range of home-bake style products.

BRIEF FULFILLED!

So we baked the cake on Monday and then our lovely Food Tech teacher put our cakes in the freezer until our lesson on Wednesday, when we iced and decorated them.

The actual cake bake went according to plan, although there was a little wobble towards the end when I thought my cake wasn't actually baking. Of course, the scary thought that I hadn't actually turned on the oven popped into my head.

When it came to icing, I knew from the beginning that I wanted a simple decoration, so as not to detract from the taste of the cake itself. As it was a sandwich cake, I filled it with the orange curd I made earlier in the week, which turned out to be a huge success!

So here was the final result, after carefully transporting it home and yelling at anyone who even dared to get in my way or prod my cake:

OK, so I know it's not the most aesthetically pleasing cake you've ever seen in your life... Trust me on the taste though!

Even my sister enjoyed it, and tried some before she went off to ballet. She rarely tries anything of mine, so it must've been a huge success...

Who knows what my next Food Tech project will be... I'll keep you updated! xxxx

Orange Curd!!

As part of my current food technology project to create a traditional yet original home-style cake (which will be blogged about in full on Wednesday), I made home-made orange curd.

Recipe

+ Grated zest and juice of 2 large oranges
+ Juice of 1/2 lemon
+ 225g golden caster sugar
+ 125g unsalted butter
+ 3 egg yolks, beaten

The method is simple. All you have to is place all the ingredients into a large saucepan and heat over simmering water, while stirring, for around 20 minutes.

Although, knowing me, it didn't go exactly to plan. Instead of taking 20 minutes, it took over an hour. I guess I just didn't turn it up high enough.

However, it will make a really good filling for my Orange and Rosemary Drizzle Cake that I have made in school and needs to be decorated, so I'm really excited to finish that...

I added fabric samples and string to the boring jam jars, just to give them a bit of a personal twist... I would probably make this again as little gifts for friends, it tasted really good! I promise!

what's cooking good looking?

Welcome to my blog! You found me!
After seeing my friend Bebe's baking blog, I was inspired to make my own.
So here goes.

Wish me luck, I'll try to post once a week!